Button-Bright addressed the umbrella, speaking to it very respectfully,
for it was a thing to inspire awe. "I want to go as far as Smuggler's
Cove and then turn around in the air and come back here," he said. At
once the umbrella rose into the air, lifting after it first the seat in
which the children sat, and then Cap'n Bill's seat.
"Don't kick your heels, Trot!" cried the sailor in a voice that proved
he was excited by his novel experience. "You might bump me in the nose."
"All right," she called back. "I'll be careful."
It was really a wonderful, exhilarating ride, and Cap'n Bill wasn't
long making up his mind he liked the sensation. When about fifty feet
above the ground the umbrella began moving along the coast toward
Smuggler's Cove, which it soon reached. Looking downward, Cap'n Bill
suddenly exclaimed, "Why, there' a boat cast loose, an' it's goin' to
smash on the rocks. Hold on a minute, Butt'n-Bright, till we can land
an' drag it ashore."
"Hold on a minute, Umbrella!" cried the boy. But the Magic Umbrella
kept steadily upon its way. It made a circle over the Cove and then
started straight back the way it had come. "It's no use, sir," said
Button-Bright to the sailor. "If I once tell it to go to a certain
place, the umbrella will go there, and nowhere else. I've found that
out before this. You simply CAN'T stop it."
"Won't let you change your mind, eh?" replied Cap'n Bill. "Well, that
has its advantidges, an' its disadvantiges. If your ol' umbrel hadn't
been so obstinate, we could have saved that boat."
"Never mind," said Trot briskly, "here we are safe back again. Wasn't
it jus' the--the fascinatingest ride you ever took, Cap'n?"
"It's pretty good fun," admitted Cap'n Bill. "Beats them aeroplanes an'
things all holler, 'cause it don't need any regulatin.'"
"If we're going to that island, we may as well start right away," said
Button-Bright when they had safely landed.
"All right. I'll tie on the lunch-basket," answered the sailor. He
fastened it so it would swing underneath his own seat, and they all
took their places again.
"Ready?" asked the boy.
"Let 'er go, my lad."
"I want to go to Sky Island," said Button-Bright to the umbrella, using
the name Trot had given him. The umbrella started promptly. It rose
higher than before, carrying the three voyagers with it, and then
started straight away over the ocean.
THE ISLAND IN THE SKY
CHAPTER 4
They clung tightly to the ropes, but the breeze was with them, so after
a few moments, when they became accustomed to the motion, they began to
enjoy the ride immensely.
Larger and larger grew the island, and although they were headed
directly toward it, the umbrella seemed to rise higher and higher into
the air the farther it traveled. They had not journeyed ten minutes
before they came directly over the island, and looking down they could
see the forests and meadows far below them. But the umbrella kept up
its rapid flight.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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